Category Archives: Virginia

What makes the Latin Ballet of Virginia popular is their use of the expressive movements to in a beautiful way to tell the many tales and traditions that makes the Hispanic culture unique. This dance troupe can excellently perform with a soulful depth of emotion and a strong commitment to education, diversity and overall progress of the Hispanic community.

History of the Company

The Latin Ballet of Virginia began in 1997 under the supervision of Ana Ines King – a native South American. This was established with creating a school of dance in mind – a place to facilitate multicultural dance programs; teach and perform for a diverse community. LBV is considered as Virginia’s pre-eminent Hispanic dance company that performs statewide and in selected locations in North and South America.

As of today, the company offers various classes that is facilitated by 13 faculty members and taught in 2 different dance classrooms. As LBV grew they have developed 11 professional dancers worldwide, featured 6 professional musicians and now mentoring about 25 apprentice dancers. LBV accepts around 400 students of different ages annually. They also have 5 professional dance productions every year, provides support to 85 long term residencies and 120 short term residencies and conducts master classes and lecture demonstrations at the same time.

LBV’s Mission

LBV was established to promote and build strong connections to Hispanic cultures through expressive dance-inspired education and programs. They work toward their objectives and mission by making the arts accessible even to low-income families. The company continues to provide culturally diverse performances and classes – fostering the Hispanic and minority children toward success; making their professional performances and educational classes available internationally.

The Company’s Program

Expressing the Spanish Language through Dance – this is a bilingual class which emphasizes the rich culture of Hispanic countries.

Music as Therapy – this is especially designed for children with learning disabilities such as high-functioning autism and mild cerebral palsy.

Use English as a second language through Dance – this program encourages Hispanics to improve their English communication skills, especially those who are new to the country.

Everybody Reads – this program serves as a curricular supplement to the mentioned programs above.

Healthy ‘love for me’ – this is a scholarship program that provides health support to children at risk.

Verde – this is a special production by LBV which promotes love and respect for mother Earth.

Youth Philanthropy – this is a development program wherein students are paired with instructors to provide input about the curriculum. The student will also be assigned to hold a class of his or her peer with one semester.

Background

We were previously known as the Hispanic Liaison Office. Virginia is one of the places in the United States where the Hispanic community is concentrated. The presence of the Latinos in VA has enriched the area culturally and economically. The Spanish population in the area has grown dramatically over the years. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in Richmond alone the Latin population comprises 6% of the residents. Many of these immigrants though do not speak English very well and because of the language barrier, living in the city can be quite challenging for them. This is one of the sole reasons why the Hispanic Liaison Office was created. Some of the Latin residents proposed the need and lead to the founding of the group in 2004.

In 2006, the organization transitioned at that time to the Human Services portfolio of the city of Richmond, under the Office the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Human Services. The office provided a big help to the Hispanic community. Take for example, in October 2010 the National League of Cities issued their newest publication ‘Municipal Innovations in Immigrant Integration: 20 Cities, 20 Good Practices’. It helped promote the innovative programs and initiatives in the area of Immigrant Integration. In July 2012, the office was then transitioned into the Office of Multicultural Affairs. The group will continue to focus on serving the Latin immigrants and refugees while establishing relationships with community-based organizations, educational institutions, private and non-profit sectors.

Mission and Vision of OMA

The Office of Multicultural Affairs increases access to city and community-based services and promotes information, education and civic participation in order to promote the quality of life of diverse cultural and linguistic communities.

At the OMA, they envision Virginia to be a welcoming community that celebrates its multiculturalism and offers equitable opportunities and access to services for all.

Services and Initiatives

Ever since the day OMA or the office was established in 2004, it has worked towards realizing its goal of creating an access point for community resources and a welcoming front door for newcomers immigrating to the area. Below are the following services that the group offers.

The Hispanics are well-known for the enthusiastic way that they throw their parties. The Que Pasa Festival is just one of the many events that highlight the food, music and art of Latin American communities in VA.

Food

Hispanics pride themselves in their delicious and tasty spread that is rich in flavors and spices. Here are some of the festival’s food vendors for the year 2014.

Happy Empanada – the owner of the shop is thrilled to bring her unique Panamanian flavor to the streets of Virginia. Lucy, the owner, immigrated to the United States in 1975 and brought with her the delicious Latin cuisine that she grew up to.

Nader’s Bistro – offers great local and Mediterranean favorites. They specialize in rotisserie style dinners and serve New Yorks style pizza, Subs and Pasta.

Pollo Campero – started as a small resto in Guatemala that served the most tender and tasty chicken. Now they are serving many other dishes that have the freshest ingredients and spices from all around Latin America.

Entertainment

Every year, the Hispanic community in VA invites different artist to celebrate the festival with them. Below is a list of the invited artists and entertainers for this year.

All American Group

Antonio Hidalgo Paz – Flamenco Dancer

Ban Caribe – an exciting blend of Afro-Cuban, Latin, Caribbean and soulful rhythm and blues all held together with pulsating percussion.

Bolivian Folklore

Capoeira

Conjuto Sason Band

International Dance Club

Kevin & Flaco – DJ’s

DJ Taz

Latin Ballet

Michael Douglas Magic

And many more…

Artisans and Vendors for 2014

Alternatives

Artesania Columbiana

Body Wrap Diva

Chacon

Crafts & Toys

De Guate

Diana’s Zumba Wear

Diva Fashion Collections

Doris’ Flowers & Crafts

Forever Dreams

Impulse Boutique

And many more…

A Brief History on Que Pasa Festival

The first Que Pasa Festival was held 10 years ago and was hosted by the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Ever since that time, the number of Hispanics living in VA has almost doubled to about 633, 945 – this is according to the 2010 US Census. As an estimate, there should be 15,000 people who will join the Que Pasa Festival this 2014.

The one thing in common about being a jet-setter, a career woman, or a simple dad who enjoys taking walks in the park with his children is a healthy, functioning body. A crucial key to fully enjoy life is to maintain a healthy and pain-free body. To know if you’re getting the right care, there are specific steps that should be followed in order to attain this. The first is called “Relief Care,” wherein the pain is reduced. Depending on the cause, it could take up to 3 visits a week for a minimum of 4 weeks to a maximum of 12. However, as you move from one step to the other, the number of required visits is reduced.

After Relief Care is “Corrective/Restorative Care.” In this phase, your body is going to be brought back to its complete functioning state. Healing is actually part of preventing any added injury and pain. Only 4-8 visits a month are required for this phase for a span of 6-24 months which would also depend on the problem.

The final step is “Wellness.” By this time your body should be completely free of pain and functioning perfectly. The focus for this phase is prevention. Periodically having your body checked from 1-4 times a month is needed to prevent any recurrence of old problems and occurrence of new ones. The determining factor for the number of visits is your lifestyle and goals.

The process can be summarized as “Reducing Pain, Healing and Further Prevention,” though the aim of chiropractic care is all about prevention. The first two are needed for prevention.

The vision of Quality Chiropractic is to make quality health treatment accessible and affordable. The good news for those with insurance plans is that most are accepted at our office. For those without insurance, we make sure that payments are arranged to be flexible to meet your needs. Often, patients find that chiropractic care is affordable enough that they can pay during their visits. Compared to other similar treatments such as pain medication or more extreme options such as invasive surgery, chiropractic care is much more budget-friendly.

All these are what you can expect when you choose to get chiropractic care at Quality Chiropractic. We don’t want just you to enjoy our services and have a better, fuller life, but we want your family to enjoy the same benefits as well. Quality Chiropractic also offers family plans customized to meet the specific needs of you and your family.

As part of catering to your needs, patient forms are now online on our site so that you may choose to fill them up during your free time before your visit. Because the focus is prevention, we encourage healthy living as a whole. We post tips on diets for different needs on our site which you can read in your spare time.

With chiropractic care, prevention is more affordable, more effective and less time-consuming than recovery methods after an injury. We don’t want to see you in pain so take the step to prevent that from happening and get chiropractic care from Quality Chiropractic.

First things first, Latino is not Hispanic. Latino is a Spanish word for latinoamericano. Latinos then hale from communities in the 20 Latin American countries in South America like Brazil, Puerto Rica, Cuba, Venezuela and the Caribbean. While Hispanic is the Latin word for “Spain” and so Hispanics are Spanish-speaking people from Spain who live in America and Latin America. Some Hollywood figures like Jennifer Lopez (Cuban) and Freddie Prinz Jr. (Half-Puerto Rican) are just a few of the faces of the Latino/Latina personalities. They are talented, and make most of the modelling industry as their features are well defined. Not to mention the home of countless Miss Universe.

How to Know if it is Latino or Not

The Brazilian way of Carnival and Mardi Gras outlasts and outshines the rest of other countries celebrating it. It is the last few days to overindulge before the Lent sets in. The Carnival spans a long five day straight into Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). It is marked by colourful costumes uniquely loud, mesmerizing, and truly detailed planned for months long parading the unique combination of the African and Amerindian cultures in contrast to the beads of New Orleans and balls and masquerades of Europe. The Rio Carnival is one of the world’s biggest celebrations.

Their music style is determined by the notes and beats of Tejano music like the music of Selena. And they have Julio Iglesias and Enrique Iglesias (father and son) to represent the Latin ballad music. Salsa originated from Latin America based from Cuba son and Puerto Rican bomba and plena. It is the melting of Afro-Cuban percussion, Spanish cancion, and guitar into one incorporating the elements of rock, funk and R&B. Plus those Spanish romantic lyrics- a very rich music indeed.

Latin American is the home of rich cuisines. Each country showcases different unique recipes. Any food enthusiast will feast in this continent. The Mexican food is popular for its intense spices, flavours, and colourful decorations like the Enchilada from Mexico, Peruvian Ceviche, Asado of Argentina, and so on. The latino menu and recipes are mixture of the kitchens of the world including African techniques, European culinary traditions, Asian cuisines from China and Japan and native American influence. One could just imagine the texture and exotic fusion of all these taste buds from all side of this world.

The sombrero is a trademark of the latinos. But it is more likely worn during a costume party now if it is still worn at all. But nowadays, the essence of South American clothing still exist today, like the Liqui Liqui of Venezuela, paired with a matching colourful ribbon for the head. They usually come in different colours with different prints and patterns. It was said that its roots is from the Philippines.

The world is filled with interesting places and culture and people, each time different, and each time as colourful. The Latinos definitely has a lot to boast and a lot to share to the world, in the first place, they are the product of cultures meeting from different seas.

Hispanics take up about 17% of the population in America and approximately 3.1 million Hispanic-owned businesses shoot up and developed since 2002. Because of the increasing number of Hispanics in America, it is evident that their participation in the business industry has emerged across the states and an economic growth is highly evident with the increase of companies owned by them.

On the other hand, Virginia has been on the rise for the past years in business and technology industry with most of its residing companies owned by the Hispanics.

Virginia, one of the States in the South Atlantic Region with a population of 8.2 million is one of the top States in the U.S to have had a rising number of successful Hispanic-owned businesses all over America.

The state of Virginia has the highest rank of technology based employment all over the United States which generally comprises most of the Hispanic-owned technology firms. Fairfax County, Virginia’s most populous and powerful county is the head quarter of the three most successful and growing Hispanic-owned business firms in the US (MicroTech, The Centech Group, Inc., and Provideo Management). In addition to this, twenty of Virginia’s Hispanic-owned businesses rank at the 2012 top 500 companies in the HispanicBusiness.com

Over the growing number of businesses in Virginia, Fairfax County released that nearly 34% of the business firm in Virginia are owned by the Hispanics surpassing that of its local business firms and roughly 1.9 billion of sales and receipts are represented by the Hispanic companies in the state.

Because of the success in business of the Hispanics particularly in the State of Virginia, a growing number of employments are escalating especially in the administrative and technical sector. Due to the further increase of Hispanic population, it is predicted that in the following years, companies owned by the Hispanics will grow even more not only in the state of Virginia but all over the U.S.

Virginia’s success in technological firms

The state of Virginia is considered to be one of United States’ center of technology based companies. The advancement of technology in their state contributed a lot in the whole of America and that is to say that a huge part of this contribution came to the Hispanic-owned business firms which focus in communication technology and software. On the other hand, these technological companies are of huge help in the economic status of Virginia for the past decades.

Among all the states in the U.S., Virginia has the lowest rank of unemployment and is also one of the richest states that have the highest income for employees compared to other states. The growth of job employment in this State is almost similar to the speed of Hispanic population growth all over America and that is to say that having the Hispanic-owned businesses spread out in the United States, especially in Virginia, a positive growth and a great increase in the economic status of the state were contributed by Hispanic companies.

Nowadays, there are numerous clinics all around Virginia Beach that offer complete foot and ankle care. However, you would want to make sure that you go with the best one available in the area without paying ridiculously high fees. One of the best ways to find a podiatrist that you can trust is to search on the internet. Many of them have created their own websites to showcase the different services that they have. They have done this to provide convenience to their present and future clients as well. To help out anyone who is looking for a podiatrist to go to, a most dependable one will be featured in this article.

Cho Foot and Ankle Specialists

This clinic is one of the most popular go-to podiatrists in Virginia Beach. Aside from the fact that they are licensed, their clients also like their wide array of choices when it comes to foot and ankle care. They are prepared and trained to handle checkups, surgeries and anything that is related to the podiatric needs of their patients. The following are some examples of their services:

Ankle sprains

Bunions

Flat feet

Hammertoes

Heel spurs

Corns

Athlete’s foot

Ingrown toenails

Warts

Plantar fasciitis

Neuromas

Calluses

Corns

Custom molded orthotics

Fungus toenails

The list goes on. If you want to know more about each specific service, you may go ahead and visit their website.

Get to Know Them More

As mentioned earlier, Cho Foot and Ankle Specialists has a website that you can visit to get more information about them and the various services that they offer. You can simply click on the different buttons and links that can be found on their page. Each click will lead you to the information that you are looking for. They have detailed descriptions of the foot and ankle care that they have as well as the doctors that will be conducting the treatments. Giving out clear information to their clients like you will help put your mind at ease about getting an appointment with them.

Get in Touch with Them

If you are visiting their website and would like to set up an appointment, just click on the contact us link located above the page. This will lead you to an online form that you simply fill up and submit to get a prompt reply from them. But if you want to pay them a personal visit, you may do so by going to this address: 1232 Perimeter Parkway, Virginia Beach, VA. You may also call them at 757-427-7447. Cho Foot and Ankle Specialists is just one of the many podiatric clinics in the area that has made it easy for clients to get a hold of them.

Educating Their Patients

One of the things that put Cho Foot and Ankle Specialists ahead of their competitors is their practice to keep the patients informed. They strongly believe that by doing this, they are helping out their clients make the right choices in treatments to get. They also believe that this will contribute to the overall well-being of the patients. Moreover, they have equipped their website with an extensive library that everyone can take advantage of.